Sachet water in Ghana: a spatiotemporal analysis of the recent upward trend in consumption and its relationship with changing household characteristics, 2010-2017
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The consumption of packaged water in Ghana has grown significantly in recent years. By 2017, “sachet water” – machine-sealed 500ml plastic bags of drinking water – was consumed by 33% of Ghanaian households. Reliance on sachet water has previously been associated with the urban poor, yet recent evidence suggests a customer base which crosses socioeconomic lines. Here, we conduct a repeated cross-sectional analysis of three nationally representative datasets to examine the changing demography of sachet water consumers between 2010 and 2017. Our results show that over the course of the study period sachet water has become a ubiquitous source of drinking water in Ghana, with relatively wealthy households notably increasing their consumption. In 2017, the majority of sachet water drinking households had access to another improved water source. The current rate and form of urbanisation, inadequate water governance, and an emphasis on cost recovery pose significant challenges for the expansion of the piped water supply network, leading us to conclude that sachet water will likely continue to be a prominent source of drinking water in Ghana for the foreseeable future. The main challenge for policymakers is to ensure that the growing sachet water market enhances rather than undermines Ghana’s efforts towards achieving universal and equitable access to clean drinking water and sanitation.
Date Issued
2022-05-26
Date Acceptance
2022-02-24
Citation
PLoS One, 2022, 17 (5), pp.1-22
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Start Page
1
End Page
22
Journal / Book Title
PLoS One
Volume
17
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2022 Moulds et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
Commission of the European Communities
Identifier
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0265167
Grant Number
209376/Z/17/Z
776691
Subjects
Cross-Sectional Studies
Drinking Water
Ghana
Spatio-Temporal Analysis
Water Supply
Cross-Sectional Studies
Water Supply
Ghana
Drinking Water
Spatio-Temporal Analysis
General Science & Technology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2022-05-26